Men’s Tennis Earns Weekend Sweep With 4-3 Win Over Vanderbilt

EVANSTON, Ill. – A day removed from a dramatic 4-3 win over Northwestern, the Harvard men's tennis team completed the weekend sweep, knocking off Vanderbilt by a similar 4-3 score Sunday at Northwestern University. The win moves Harvard above .500 at 4-3 on the season.

After a closely contested doubles competition against the Wildcats Saturday, the Crimson took control of the play Sunday, breezing to the doubles point. Andy Nguyen and Nicky Hu, Harvard's No. 2 pair, made short work of Gonzalez Austin and Suresh Eswaran, rolling in an 8-3 victory. The top pair of Casey MacMaster and Denis Nguyen was just off the pace, closing out an 8-4 victory over Ryan Lipman and Rhys Johnson to lock down the doubles point for the Crimson.

Singles play saw Alex Steinroeder shine in the third position, giving Harvard a 2-0 cushion in the match with a 6-1, 6-2 final over Johnson. Andy Nguyen relinquished even fewer games than Steinroeder at fourth singles, besting Jeff Offerdahl, 6-1, 6-1, to put Harvard a point away from the match victory.

With its back against the wall, Vanderbilt rallied for a pair of singles wins to close the gap in the overall match score. Ryan Lipman took down Denis Nguyen, 6-2, 6-3, in the top singles spot and the rookie Hu fell, 7-5, 6-4, at fifth singles to Marc van der Merwe. After splitting sets at No. 2, Shaun Chaudhuri shut the door on Austin in the third, polishing off the match with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-0 final, giving Harvard the victory. MacMaster was the last Crimson player to finish, relinquishing a hard-fought three set decision (3-6, 6-3, 7-5) to Kris Yee at sixth singles.

The ECAC Division I Indoor Team Championship is next up for Harvard, as the Crimson will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., Feb 15-18 for the event.